[ISEA2010] Curator Statement: Exhibition Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM) — Heavy Matter

Curator Statement

At the turn of the 21st century, New Media has become a matter of course and the technology of electronic data processing is constantly being perfected. The promise that all spheres of
life will be digitalised and made immaterial seems to have been fulfilled. Just how immaterial is data really? Does it not carry a certain amount of weight, after all? What role does the subject
play in the virtual data space? In this exhibition, we will question the arrival of the virtual future and, as the exhibition title suggests, expose the immaterial as “Heavy Matter”. The question
of whether New Media can access reality is explored in the form of complex processes of transformation, embodiment, sound and localisation. By purloining scientific explanatory models for artistic purposes, applying extrasensory methods and devising poetic processes, the complex virtual world will become accessible and will be, literally, made tangible. Heavy does matter: objectively, physically and financially. Matter is an autonomous (disruptive) factor between transmitter and receiver. “Heavy Matter” has been developed by members of the teaching staff and students of the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM). Initiated, supervised and coordinated by Prof. Mathias Antlfinger, Dr. Gabriele Gramelsberger, Echo Ho, Prof. Ute Hörner, Dr. des. Anneka Metzger, Lasse Scherffig, Prof. Dr. Georg Trogemann.

Kindly supported by Westfalen Forum, Dortmund